Afraid of the Dark
by givemelovelikeklaroline
Summary: Saying good-bye is never easy. A chance meeting in an unlikely place brings Klaus and Caroline together for one night that may just be their last.


"_I never wanted to stop, _

_Because I don't want to start all over._

_I was afraid of the dark,_

_But now it's all that I want…"_

Sometimes, being there for everybody gets exhausting. Even for somebody as capable as Caroline Forbes. It's not that she didn't like being the go-to, fix-it girl in their group of friends; it's just that sometimes she needed one of those friends as well.

Well… she had Stefan. He was always there for her, always on her side, but there were some things she just needed a girlfriend for. Like talking about Tyler, for instance. _I can't very well talk to Stefan about it. Not while he's watching the love of his life unravel before his eyes._

The only person who even cared about Tyler's whereabouts was the one who drove him away in the first place: _Klaus_.

So here she was, in the middle of Mystic Falls cemetery, all alone, talking to the one person who would listen.

"Hi, daddy," she spoke placing daisies on Bill Forbes' tombstone. "Sorry, I haven't been around lately… it's just, well, you know… vampire business is kind of time consuming," she laughed humorlessly.

"Things are going to hell around here," she continued. "People are dying…being massacred." She kept out her part in the most recent massacre of the witches. Carried her shame inside.

"And Tyler… he's gone. He left me, dad." Lowering herself onto the grass, Caroline leaned back against the tombstone, preparing to pour out all the woes her friends weren't available to hear.

"It wasn't really a choice. Not when leaving gave him a shot at living." She mulled the situation over as she picked at the grass underneath her.

If she had to do it over, would she have made him stay? Tried to find another way out of it? _Nope, not a chance. He was lucky to get out when he did. Klaus would have ripped his heart out otherwise._

Caroline let out a heartfelt sigh. _Klaus._

"Then there's the guy who made him leave…" she told her father. "Klaus is… he's…" How did she explain Klaus?

"Friends. He thinks we're friends," Caroline scoffed at the memory. "How can I be friends with someone who looks at me like that?" She didn't know what to make of him.

"He thinks his actions against my friends are justified. Maybe they are, I don't know. But does that make it acceptable?"

Confusion at the enigma that was Klaus Mikaelson bred frustration in her. "He hurt Elena's family and he took the only family Tyler had left away from him. He even hurt me… but he didn't let me die… He _couldn't._"

She started pulling at the grass as her thoughts aggravated her. "He does things… says things that make me question myself and what I want. He brings out a side of me, a-a darkness, that I didn't know existed. I don't know what to do with it."

Caroline lifted her hand and studied the dirt that covered it. "You were right, dad. I have changed. I'm not the same girl you left behind."

Pulling her knees to her chest, she closed her eyes. "You're probably not the proudest father up there right now, but thank you for listening. I hope you don't mind if I stay here for a while longer. I just… need time to think."

She stayed there, her thoughts running from Klaus to Tyler over and over again, as the sun went down letting the moonlight shine in its stead. She was wondering how long she could escape before someone needed her again, when she heard a twig snap a few yards away.

Turning her head Caroline saw the last person she wanted to face standing with his eyes downcast at a grave. Sorrow radiated in his stance. Instantly she remembered who was buried there, as she had a hand in the burial.

Raising herself, Caroline dusted off the dirt and grabbed a few daisies from the stack wilting on her father's grave. _Sorry, dad. He needs a few of these… Thanks for listening. I'll be back soon!_

Walking over to the lone man, Caroline braced herself for a conversation she knew she wasn't ready for.

"Fancy running into you here," she said joining him in his study of Kol's grave.

"I came to say good-bye," Klaus answered solemnly.

Caroline turned her head at this. "What do you mean 'good-bye'?"

Giving her a sideways glance before returning his eyes back to the grave, Klaus explained, "My siblings are coming home. Elijah believes we have lost enough family to this town. It's time we move on from this place."

Trying to process what he was saying, she asked, "But… where will you go?"

"We have a home in a corner of New Orleans. Perhaps it's best we go back."

They were silent as Caroline sorted through the panic rising inside her to find out why she felt she wasn't ready for a Klaus-free Mystic Falls yet.

"Thank you," he said, breaking the silence, "for burying Kol."

Caroline nodded in acknowledgment. "I wasn't his biggest fan, but he was still your brother. I know what it's like to lose family," she said looking back at her father's grave.

"Here," she said, handing him the daisies she held. "For Kol."

As she wrapped his hands around the flowers, Klaus took the chance to study her. While every instinct told him that leaving was for the best, every molecule in his body revolted at the thought of leaving her. Leaving Caroline.

But this was the best for her as well. He was only a complication to her life. _How long before she realizes the misery I bring her outweighs the intrigue?_

It was best he left before that happened, while they still had the illusion of friendship.

Feeling his eyes on her, Caroline looked up. Her lips parted at the intensity in his eyes aimed at her. "Klaus…?" she whispered.

He wanted to say something, anything that would make her understand his need of her, but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out. Clenching his jaw in frustration Klaus bent and placed the flowers on the grave.

Straightening himself, he looked at Caroline one last time and said, "good-bye, love."

Caroline stared after him as he disappeared into the night.

"_Here I am, staring at your perfection_

_In my arms, so beautiful…"_

Unwilling to let that be their last good-bye, Caroline went after him. She didn't know what she would say or why she even needed to see him anyway, but she knew she had to hurry.

Barging into his mansion, Caroline called out, "Klaus? We need to talk…"

Klaus had holed up in his room, nursing his drink while sketching as he waited for Rebekah and Elijah to arrive. He heard Caroline's call, but thought it best to let it go. Let _her _go. Another confrontation wouldn't exactly make it any easier for him to leave.

But Caroline was persistent. She followed the sound of movement and opened the door to his room.

Closing his eyes at the sound of her footsteps behind him, Klaus wondered why he thought ignoring Caroline would ever work.

His silence unnerved her. "Klaus?" she called. "Are you okay?"

"What are you doing here, Caroline?" he asked, not yet ready to face her.

"I-I… don't know."

He stared at her questioningly as she sat on his bed next to him.

"Kol…" she whispered looking down.

Klaus raised an eyebrow and followed her gaze to his sketchpad open on the bed between them. He started to close it, but Caroline snatched it out of his hands.

Studying the picture, she commented, "this is amazing."

Curious to see what else he had drawn, she flipped the page to see a drawing of Rebekah and Elijah. With a single pencil, he had captured Rebekah's soft beauty and Elijah's old-school charm. She was in awe.

Flipping another page, she saw sketches of Esther, Mikael, Finn, and a little boy about the age of 12. _The family he has lost,_ she realized.

Looking up, Caroline saw the vulnerability he tried to hide. "You miss your family," she stated quietly.

Eyes boring into the sketch of his parents, Klaus replied, "I'd use the term 'family' loosely."

Turning back to the sketch of Kol, she said, "maybe not them but Elijah, Rebekah, and Kol. You miss them."

Her words brought back memories of him and his siblings. _Always and forever._

"They all spent years hating me… I thought this time, after coming together against our mother's plan to destroy us, we could finally be together as a family again," he shared. "But I was wrong. Seems I will always be the abomination Mikael believed me to be."

Caroline's hand on the book flexed, wanting to reach out and comfort him but not knowing how. Seeing the movement, Klaus reached over and picked the sketch out of her hands.

"I would have taken care of him, you know. If your friends had just told me of their plan before hand, I would have daggered him and put him away. His death was unnecessary."

She had nothing to say to this, as she hadn't been let in on the plan until after the fact. Witnessing the sorrow in his eyes, Caroline wished there had been another way.

"Kol wasn't the sociopathic killer your friends believe. It's just… when it came to protecting himself and his family, he was ruthless. Just as you lot are," Klaus said narrowing his eyes at her. "So tell me, what's the difference between your friends and him? What makes _them_ any better than him?!"

Caroline watched as angry tears formed in his eyes. Covering his hand that held the book, Caroline said the one thing she was sure of.

"Your brother didn't deserve to die. I'm sorry that you lost him."

The honesty on her face was his undoing. His eyes slid shut and he felt the unwanted tears stream down his face. He silently cursed himself for this weakness.

Feeling the bed shift under him, Klaus opened his eyes to see Caroline moving closer to him as she wrapped her arms around his left arm and rested her head on his shoulder. The feeling of comfort was an odd sensation to him.

"Caroline?" he questioned.

"I don't know why I came here. I just know that I don't want to feel this way about you, but I can't stop thinking about you either. I.." she said, her voice breaking in her helplessness, "I don't know what to do…"

Klaus could no longer hold himself still. Shifting back against his headboard, he brought Caroline up on the bed with him to be more comfortable. "You don't have to do anything, sweetheart. I understand. I'll be gone in the morning; you won't have to think about me again."

Tilting her head back, Caroline noticed for the first time just how close their faces were. She could count his every eyelash as her nose barely grazed his chin.

Staring at his lips, she whispered, "I'm not supposed to feel this way about you."

The need that was building in her was palpable in the room. Klaus called upon the patience he had mastered in a thousand years to keep his eyes fixed on hers, as he countered gravely, "and I didn't want to feel this way about anybody… Love is a weakness, Caroline Forbes, and you are mine."

Her breath shuddered out of her at his confession. Wanting nothing more than to lean over and feel the promise that his lips held, Caroline forced herself to look away, but buried herself closer into his side.

Klaus brought his arm out of her hold and draped it over her shoulders, as he brought his other arm across her front. Pulling her on to his chest, Klaus dropped his chin on her head and was content to just have her in his arms for the night.

Eventually Caroline was lulled to sleep by the beating of his undead heart under her.

But Klaus didn't allow sleep to claim him as well. If this was all he was going to have of Caroline, he wouldn't miss a second of it.

Inevitably, the sun started to creep back up. Klaus watched as the shadows were replaced by rays of light and heard a scuffling of footsteps downstairs. _Elijah and Rebekah. _

And just like that, their time was up. He moved slowly, so as not to wake her, and tucked the comforter around her. Running his finger down her cheek, he imprinted the image of a peaceful Caroline into his mind.

_Forgive me, love, for all the misery I have brought in your life. I wish we had more time, but this is our last good-bye._

Picking up the sketchpad he had deserted earlier that night, he scribbled a small note, so that when Caroline woke, the only thing she had left of him were the words _I love you._

"_And when the daylight comes, I'll have to go._

_But tonight I'm going to hold you so close."_

**I haven't abandoned my fic! I just had to get some Kol feels out, and of course they had to tie in to Klaroline :/ **

**This is a one-shot! **

**Review and let me know if you like this!**


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